Debriefing: Ohio State Sinks Navy in Baltimore, 34-17

The Buckeyes started the 2014 season yesterday with a lot of questions, particularly in the wake of Braxton Miller’s season-ending shoulder injury.

Playing an unorthodox team like Navy is never going to answer those questions, but at least there is now we’ve got one game in the books and have seen the team on the field. Indeed, the 2009 team needed rescuing by Brian Rolle on a two-point conversion to fend off the Midshipmen, so it was great to just get out of Baltimore with a 17-point win against a very good group of Middies, led by quarterback Keenan Reynolds.

Navy’s offense averaged around 350 rushing yards last year and the talented Reynolds has been heralded as the team’s best quarterback of the modern era. This was a concern for Buckeye fans, who remember a pretty good signal caller in the person of Ricky Dobbs five years ago. The rebuilt pass defense would practically have the week off but the rush defense was in for a battle all day long.

Would the Buckeye run defense shut down Reynolds and the running attack? Could redshirt freshman quarterback J.T. Barrett stay poised and distribute the rock accurately? Would the inexperienced offensive line get the job done? Would we see exciting young players getting a chance to shine in Tom Herman’s offense?

Not really, yes, mostly, and indeed. Reynolds and his backs rolled up yards but only two touchdowns, and one of those came on a controversial play that was upheld by replay. Barrett was solid in his first start behind a line that struggled a bit in pass protection, especially early, but mostly took over in the run game after halftime. And we got a healthy dose of Curtis Samuel and Jalin Marshall on offense and Darron Lee on defense.

Here are your talking points:

Water Cooler prep (Everything you need to know…in one paragraph)

The Buckeyes looked shaky at times, especially in the first half, when Navy took a 7-6 halftime lead that could have been 10-6 if not for a missed field goal. Lee turned the game around with a 61-yard touchdown on a fumble recovery and Barrett calmly led the offense to three touchdown drives after the break in the 34-17 win. The defense bent a lot, but rarely broke under the Navy ground attack and dominated the few passing plays they saw. Frosh Sean Nuernberger was 2/2 on field goals. #DasBoot

Give that man a buckeye leaf (Player of the game)

A lot of guys made individual plays, but it’s hard to ignore what Barrett was able to do in his first start. The Wichita Falls, TX, product was 12/15 for 226 yards with two touchdowns and one interception. His 80-yarder to Devin Smith gave the Buckeyes the lead for good with 4:10 remaining in the third quarter, and he added a 9-yard scoring toss to Michael Thomas late in the game to provide the exclamation point. Barrett also carried nine times for 50 yards.

Slobber Knocker of the Game

This was about to be a crushing hit by Armani Reeves on a Demond Brown kickoff return, just after Ohio State had gone ahead 13-7 on Lee’s fumble return touchdown. NOPE, then this happened:

Did you see that?! (Play of the game)

Reynolds had Navy driving at the start of the third quarter. With the ball on Ohio State’s 36, he ran the option right and faced the imposing form of Joey Bosa, who pressured Reynolds into a bad pitch. Lee scooped up the resulting fumble and raced 61 yards to the end zone. It started a 28-10 final scoring run for the Buckeyes.

Unfortunately, CBS Sports Network announcer Verne Lundquist kept making a mess of his first name an his mother took to Twitter at the injustice.

@CBSSportsNet #43 for ohio state..his name is Darron (darren, like the Darren in bewitched) tell Verne they r messing with my sons name

Jim Tressel's Least Favorite Moment of the game

James Patrick Tressel was out in his driveway, raining three-pointers into the hoop above his garage door. He had the game on the radio so he could listen while tuning up his game in an effort to join the Cavs later this season. When Ohio State ran the option on third-and-1 near the goal line, Tressel spiked his Rawlings basketball in disgust. “Why would you call that play,” he wondered. "Running wide like that moves the ball to the wrong hash for your field goal kicker!” When the play lost yardage, Tressel was so fired up he reverse tomahawk jammed the ball and shattered the backboard. RIP backboard.

When you sank into your chair (The moment Buckeye football disgraced your family)

Same play as Jim Tressel’s least favorite moment. Had the Buckeyes run north/south on the third-and-1 play, even if they didn’t get the yard, they may have been close enough to opt to go for it on fourth down. By failing spectacularly on a wide run [/flashes back to Big Ten championship game play calling.] [/Drinks heavily], the resulting loss of yardage forced a field goal try. It likely prevented Ohio State from leading at the half.

What you texted your friend at the end of each quarter

First: “Das Boot for three, but I *hate* this triple option.”

Second: “Freshman gonna freshman, but what was that play call on 3rd-and-1?”

Third: “Offense is starting to pick it up.”

Fourth: “J.T. done good and will only get better.”

It was over when

Elliott burst up the gut for a 10-yard touchdown on first-and-goal from the Navy 10 with 8:54 to play. The Buckeyes went ahead 27-17 and Navy had used all of its timeouts—two of them to give replay time to try to overturn close plays. By going ahead by two scores against a passing-challenged team out of timeouts, Ohio State effectively seized control at that point.

Next up, the Buckeyes will open their home slate with a night banger against Virginia Tech (1-0) out of the ACC. Frank Beamer's Hokies opened their season yesterday with a 34-9 win at home over William & Mary.

Comments

I was hoping JT wouldn't show up and play like a freshman who hadn't played in 2 years but in the end, he is a freshman that hasn't played in 2 years! But he did what he was supposed to and improved as the game went on.

The best thing about Pastafarianism? It is not only acceptable, but advisable, to be heavily sauced

Disagree. He made one ill advised throw and didnt see the open receiver. Other than that he put the ball in the right place every time. Throws a nice catchable ball. It was a big day for JT, in my opinion. Mike Thomas will have a breakout year (as long as he starts blocking).

I've seen a lot of people mention the open receiver on the INT, but that would have been a throw completely across his body after spinning away from one rusher and having another in his face. Absolutely no way he can make that throw. Yes the guy was open (I think it was Devin Smith), but it would have to be an XBox play to get it there.

The correct play was to throw it away. He showed his youth by trying to make a big play out of a situation that Navy had busted up. The big play was that he avoided the sack. He did a great job by doing that. Next throw it to the alumni in the stands and come back for another play.

He had a couple of questionable screen passes that, frankly, he's fortunate did not end up pick 6's. He did well, but needs to improve. I like his attitude... he's not trying to be Braxton. Need for the line to gel for him quickly.

To his defense, they ran that play about four times and the defense saw it coming a mile away. Thank goodness he wasn't picked. I'll give him a pass on that because it was his first game. Either he or the coaching staff should have recognized the defense had that play snuffed out and changed the play.

I was watching most of Navy's offensive plays through my binoculars (since the WRs were moot), and on that slobber knocker, I saw him with the ball, a red blur, and then they went out of frame in a blink of an eye.

Anybody else think the announcers sucked ? Talk about giving the team a virtual rub down during the game, those two clowns babbled all over themselves / went giddy for Navy the entire game.

On a serious note, The performance of the Ohio State O-Line needs to improve, BIG TIME. There were several known-unknowns going into this game. There is clarity on some of those fronts but not on the O-Line. I'm confident the unit will gel as season goes on, but we gotta big game next week from a team known for a strong defense. That is worry #1 for me moving forward.

A couple of things were factors with Verne & Gary: One, their unfamiliarity with the Buckeyes, compounded by our graduation/injury losses and re-compounded by the fact that Lundquist is way past his prime; and two, understandable admiration for the Naval Academy. And of course, any game where the underdog puts up a fight, it's going to be reflected in the commentary.

Is that Lee hit above the same one where Paul Keels said that he "planted him like a cheap flower?" That was hilarious.

Look out you don't want to mess with Lee, but you really don't want to mess with his Mom. Verne sounded like he was a Navy man on leave after two months at sea. At times I really thought he was drunk. :-D

I may not be the sharpest crayon in the box but I'm one of the most colorful.

My wife generally has no interest in post game analysis, but every time I read the debriefing piece I share Jim Tressel's least favorite moment and she loves it as much as I. Damn it feels good to be back into football season! #GoBucks125

Saw Vonn Bell a lot in second half, which is a bad thing I guess given Navy's 20 passing yards. Also good to see contributions from Burroughs, Apple, and Worley. Still can't get over how good the D line is and can't wait till Spence gets back.

I wasn't able to watch the game yesterday, and since ESPN is only allowed to show 10 seconds worth of tOSU football highlights a day (leaving more time for sec highlights) I was confused about how we let up so many rushing yards. The community makes it seem like the d line played a good game, but I don't see how that's possible if we let up so many rushing yards.

Our linebacker play sucked. No one ever took the pitch. We were not very well prepared. Our middle line backer would take off to chase someone wide and they would counter up the middle and we would get gashed. I was not impressed with the way we played the Mike position. I am not sure it's all on the players. I have not been one to jump on the Fire the DC bandwagon, but Meyer said they had been preparing for Navy since the beginning of camp.

Triple option is very difficult to defend when played properly & Reynolds executed it to near perfection. I thought there were a lot of mistakes in the first half, but the second half the defense played very well. Keep your eye on Navy, they'll be a solid team this year.

"Do not pass me, just slow down - I can move right through you" Superchunk - Precision Auto.

Basically the d-line destroyed while the linebackers struggled. Most runs up the middle got obliterated and it seemed like every time navy tried to pass they got sacked. But they ran tons of options to the ledt or right out in spacce and our linebackers and safeties were slow to get where they needed to be.

Navy's offense made a concerted effort to work the edges and move the ball outside, to try and negate our huge advantage on the D line. This puts emphasis on the linebackers and DBs to be fundamentally sound. Combining the 2 facts that A) Navy will ALWAYS run for 300 yds, because they do it almost exclusively, and are good at it, and B) this was the first game, on the road, and our D will need time to completely gel and get everyone to understand their responsibilities.

- I think I've been an incredible example to my kids of what not to do. - Woody H(arrelson)

The yards to the edge were a result of the cover four shell. The corners stayed with the wide receivers and the safeties were two deep. They diagnosed the play and came in pursuit. Unfortunately being about 13 yards from the line if scrimmage they were usually late to clean up the outside run.

We did three things right. We took away the pass, stopped Reynolds, and the D-line stuffed the inside run. We made the pitch man beat us. That is where the yards came from and obviously they weren't enough to beat us.

It's the triple option, but actually it is the quadruple option if you factor in the pass. We shut down three out of the four. They stayed the course and we won.

I am sure Ross will do a better job of explaining it when he does his piece on the defense this week.

I held it together yesterday when it was totally sketchy, I did not yell at my Boys or my wife (props to other Husbands and Dads that did the same)

I was completely nervous that a previous lack of judgment led to a poor posting that got a plethora of down votes may have been the cause of a possible Buckeyes loss. If that would have happened I would not have had a problem if all of you showed up at my door and pummeled me.

Instead the Buckeyes were victorious, the Key Lime Pie I made was sneaky good and the made from scratch Nachos were remarkable. Pickled some jalapenos yesterday that are straight up awesome.

People complain a lot about the 3rd and 1 playcall (wherein Barrett had a lane and decided to pitch it instead), but we failed on that because of poor execution. Other than that, I think he called a good game. The o-line played poorly, too, which factored a lot into it.

If JT keeps it on that option, we probably score a touchdown on that drive. Similarly, he had Devin Smith wide open in the middle of the field on that interception. The execution made the playcalling look a lot worse than it actually was.

With that said, I think JT played a really good game aside from those two mistakes.

When I walked in this morning and saw the flag was at half mast I thought, "Alright, another bureaucrat ate it." but then I saw it was Li'l Sebastian. Half mast is too high. Show some damn respect.

Agree that if Barrett would have cut it up he would have had the first down. My problem with the play call, the same a MSU, was that it was an outside run to the short side of the field. You just don't have enough room around the edge if anything goes wrong.

I feel like Meyer/Herman just don't believe they can run up the middle whenboth teams know that's what you're going to do. I feel like they always need to out-smart the opponent and they can't just, for example, call Dave and let Hyde and a senior online do its thing. They have to feel like they are outsmarting the opponent and can't just out the ball in the hands of their players.

Now, most of the time they do outsmart their opponent so that's good, but when it doesn't work I think that's why.

JT shows loads of promise and I fully believe that he will be a very good QB as the coaches begin trusting his passing game more, and as he develops. But people want to forget this was a Navy defense, and for all the raving about their vaunted offense, Navy D is as bad as some of the the worst in the B1G. He will need to keep getting better because the "book" on the Buckeyes and the inexperience of the OL and QB will be titled, "Bring The Pressure".

Let's not forget that the interception wasn't the only flaw in JT's game. He had a line of sight for a TD or at least a first down but decided to pitch it for a loss on the play, and 4 points were left on the field. He had a throw to the flat that was nearly intercepted with a clear path for a Navy TD because he didn't see the defender who had anticipated it.

All in all I like what this kid brings to the table and I anticipate some rapid development from him.

Having both teams getting together for the alma maters at the end of the game was classy, as well as for a group handshake at the start of the game. That's what makes college football so special and better than the money-grubbing pros. Both team played hard but respected each other. And, of course, the Buckeyes won.

When URban was hired, I remember him saying that they have a few pages in the playbook that are I-formation. If there is ever a need for the ISO play, or an Ace formation slant, its that third and 1. I would imagine that Navy wouldn't be able to stop that.

I might be in the minority, but I'm willing to give the LB's and run defense a pass. Navy averaged 350 per game last season on the ground so it's not like it surprised me. OSU will not face a run game like that the rest of the way.

1. It was said yesterday the OL got better when they put Hale in at guard. My guess is Joel starts vs. VT. It also looks as if Boren has separated himself from Lindsay.

2. One thing I noticed that I like, the LBs not only look quicker but are MUCH bigger. Thank you, Mickey.

3. Lots of people unhappy with the total rushing yards the D gave up. The cut blocks were the only thing that allowed most of them. I think Navy would still rush for 250-300 against anyone else including Sparty.

4. JT doesn't throw that pick he was nearly flawless. Better start than I ever could have imagined.

5. DasBoot indeed!

Question, did Kwon play? I didn't see him.

"Sherman ran an option play right through the south" - Greatest Civil War analogy EVER.

My only complaint about Barret is his run reads. Many times if he keeps the ball he picks up 4-6 yards but continually gave it up for short gains and losses. Not comparing him to Braxton at all but in that game Braxton has 2 long touchdowns because he sees the reads. The offensive line was just that...offensive. They HAVE to improve or we're in trouble. VT amd MSU are MUCH better than Navy.

Braxton made the wrong run reads quite a bit himself. He kept the ball and went for 0-4 yards while taking big hits, it was kind of a problem for him really. Braxton had the talent to make a bad read look good, a couple times a game perhaps, but he took unneeded licks at least as often.

I don't want JT running more than 7-9 times a game. He needs to run to keep the D honest but he isn't going to take 2 balls to the house by making a zone read. He isn't Braxton, doesn't have his speed or his moves. Holes that would have been open for 50 yard runs for Miller will close on Barrett before he can hit them.

The improvement from first half to second half has me confident the OL will be fine. Typically coaches say the biggest improvement is week one to week two, have to think they'll be much better for VT. It started ugly, no question. Chemistry comes with time and reps.

Navy had 3 very productive drives and 8 fruitless drives. 350 rushing has the sky falling for some people but the D played well most of the game. Their offense is top 5 rushing every year and will be again this year. The key to beating and only allowing them 17 points is stopping the bleeding. We never let them put multiple drives in a row together.

The triple option is very tricky to defend, I don't care how much you practice for it, you will look stupid a few times a game even if you know what you are supposed to be doing. Those who are being critical of the LB play are probably not watching many great LB groups try to defend the triple O. Navy put up 331 on ND last year with a chance to win on the final drive, Georgia Southern rushed for 320 and were still in the game until late in the 3rd on a top 3 Alabama defense that won a national title. This offense makes very competent teams look like fools sometimes.

If it is so hard to defend and it is used by so called teams with less talent, why aren't we running it with superior athletes? The truth is that far too many times our LBs and Safeties got caught up in the trash and couldn't get to where they were suppose to be. Slow reaction time, bad keys or bad reads? Way too many times there was a lone defender on the edge attempting to defend the QB and a pitch man. No excuses!

Because no matter how good a team looks running the triple option, you can still be shut down running it and coaches feel it's way too one dimensional. Now you can run variations of the option inside a spread offense. Which is what some teams like to do. There's a reason very few teams run it and why it's no longer a dominant offense. You can run for 400 yards and still lose. So many pitches, quick handoffs, reads. A lot of room for mistakes.

"I've had smarter people around me all my life, but I haven't run into one yet that can outwork me. And if they can't outwork you, then smarts aren't going to do them much good." - Woody Hayes

I more than happy with the game. No injuries, I'm aware of. When is the last time a Buckeye QB completed 80% of his passes? Let alone in his first college game, first start and first game action in almost 2 years. Color me impressed

I dont think that JT played bad for his first game. I think that his play could have been better with a competent O line. I didn't like the interception in the red zone and I really didn't like his decision to continue to string out the option on that 3rd and 1 when the pitch man was covered and his defender appeared to have over-pursued him. I believe that if he would've faked the pitch and cut it up that he would've gotten the 1st or scored. Once he turned those shoulders, it was over for that play. Worst case is the ball would've been spotted closer to the middle of the field. I don't see JT as legit threat to run the ball out of the read option. One, he isn't fast enough and 2, we cant afford for him to get hit. He's not fast enough not to get hit.

RB's are ultra talented and as soon as they slow down and utilize some patience they will break long TD runs consistently. Obviously with their current trust in the O Line, you cant expect a lot of patience.

1-0 It was painful but we sure as heck didn't come away without some areas that need improvement.

QB - Still not sold on J.T. Barrett. I thought he looked ok for a R-Fr, but then again the playbook was very vanilla. The INT was AWFUL (and certainly the definition of a Fr mistake), but stuff like that is to be expected. Better to get it out now, than suffer the very same mistake in a game like Va Tech, Cincy, Penn St, MSU, or Michigan that will actually make you pay for that mistake. His TD pass to Devin Smith was a thing of beauty. Perfectly setup by Tom Herman (in terms of play-calling), but certainly a read that Barrett still had to see & execute, and I was happy to see him underthrow Smith than OVERthrow the ball like Danielson said on the broadcast. One thing's for sure... if we're going to compete this year, Barrett has to progress. Now let's see what he can do vs. Va Tech. (Note: I thought it was very telling that we didn't even see Cardale Jones for one drive.)

RB - Disappointing that Barrett lead all rushers in rushing. I would rather see our top running back racking up 100+ yards than see three tailbacks with 40-some yards each. I know this is going to sound crazy, but I think having as much depth at RB as we have is actually a detriment than a bonus. We have so many studs at RB that we have to play them, and this prevents any one of them from 'getting into a rhythm'. I think it's obvious our #1 RB is easily Ezekiel Elliott, but I was pleasantly surprised with Curtis Samuel's ability to run the ball up-the-middle, and I thought Jalin Marshall looked solid as well. Even tho Eze is our #1 RB, it was painfully obvious to me that Dontre Wilson is easily our BEST weapon. Out of the entire bunch, he looked the best (IMO). My heart goes out to Rod Smith. It seemed like every time he was sub'd in, he was sub'd out after one play. Call me crazy, but I truly believe that Smith has the tools to be Carlos Hyde-esk. Obviously not quite the same nor am I trying to suggest that they are even remotely on the same level, but it's glaringly obvious to me that the POTENTIAL is there. He just seemed sooo dejected every time he was coming out of there (head held down).

WR - Call me crazy, but Devin Smith's game translates better to the Pros than it does in this Offense. I think Smith will struggle to hit 800 yards receiving in this offense (simply because there are too many weapons and not enough footballs to go around), but I see his game translating VERY very to the next level. IMO, he has the down-field-speed to get open at the next level; he has the soft hands to catch most of what's thrown at him; and I believe he runs some pretty nice routes (relatively speaking). Unfortunately, there's just too many weapons who will require touches, thus limiting Smith from getting the # of touches he truly needs to be a 1,000 yard receive (IMO). Dontre Wilson, again, as stated above, was (to me) obviously our #1 weapon. I was happy to see Michael Thomas lead the way in REC. I do believe that he's our best 'pure receiver'. Guy has the hands, speed, size, and swagger of a top-tier receiver; just needs to put it all together. Evan Spencer - while I like his seniority/leadership... he's 'JAG' (just a guy).

TE - Jeff Heuerman has the talent to be a nice TE, but with so many weapons and knowing how Meyer/Herman like to utilize the speed guys, I just don't see Heuerman having a big year. Would love to utilize him more (as I think he could be a real mismatch for defenses), but I just don't see it happening. Nick Vannett - not sure I even saw/noticed him once.

OL - The OL was a HUGE disappointment. They did not control the LOS like I thought they should have. Granted they kinda took over control late in the game and started having better luck, but I was severely disappointed with the play of this group, especially Elflein (perhaps my expectations for him were just too high based off of his brief success last season). Decker didn't do anything one way or the other, so I'll say he actually looked OK. Did Chad Lindsay even play?

DL - Mixed emotions here. I thought Bennett and Washington looked AMAZING (Bosa looked pretty good too, especially when it looked to me like Navy was scheming/running AWAY from him), but I thought Steve Miller looked awful (Rashad Frazier looked better than Miller, IMO) and I was disappointed we gave up as many yards as we did. I knew Navy was going to come out there and run their option/gimmicky offense... and I knew they were going to put up yards, but I was NOT expecting them to control/run over us like they did. I'm in favor of Frazier starting over Miller for Va Tech.

LB - I thought Curtis Grant looked surprisingly alright for once. Still don't think he's put it all together yet, but he did look improved (which is good). Darron Lee looked like our most physically gifted LB out there. Looks like the hype re: Lee this off-season might be real. IMO, Joshua Perry was quiet. I don't recall seeing him much / him imposing his will on the game. Another pleasant surprise was seeing Chris Worley get the time/action that he got, and I thought he looked good too when he was in there. Maybe it was just me, but I didn't see McMillan or Booker at all at LB. Not seeing McMillan there was a disappointment (for me); but probably about expected.

CB / S - It wouldn't even be fair to attempt to grade this unit, as there was a whole whopping 4 passing attempts. I think Tyvis Powell looked great. He was all over the field. Granted he missed a couple tackles (tackling in general for the team was very poor - Florida-esk - and NEEDS to improve IMMEDIATELY), but I thought he looked great. He was everywhere and constantly around the football. Doran Grant was a ghost, but (1) that's what you want as a CB and (2) Navy only attempted 4 passes, so naturally he was going to be a ghost. I saw Bell a handful of times, and I heard Burrows was getting equal # of snaps with Bell. Didn't really notice Conley/Apple.

P - We might very well have the best punter in the nation, in Cameron Johnston. Love this kid.

I'm sorry I don't get all the Buckeye haters!! Navy is a really good team, what I mean is people forget they where 9-3 last year and won a bowl game.. They could have finished better if wasn't for couple close games against good teams. They could of finish in the middle of the Big Ten or other power 5 conference. So my question is way is everyone down on Buckeyes? If we would have beaten a 9-3 Nebraska or a 9-3 LSU 34 -17 the Espn and everyone else would be on the ban wagon.. Just wait to end of the season and Navy will be a 9 or 10 win team. Like so many others have said 350 rushing yard isn't nothing against a good option team. I see the good in that is, OSU only allowed 17 points.. Go BUCKS!!